InterfaceLeader

An illustration of a bar scene with several different greasy bar food like ramen, bbq, sushi, grilled fish, and hamburgers

Midgar mercenary 🍻
#ff7 #foodposting

Yeah! It's a world where you can buy a bunch of things that would probably be regulated in (some parts of) our world but also you can totally get high off OTC medicine...

Also I am an addict Reno truther🫸

I think Pynchon is like hot sauce. Either you love what he does or you hate it. It's dense postmodern absurdist paranoia. He definitely writes what he wants to write and is clearly having fun with it.

Just had a delicious indian meal with all the things I love 🙌

Marijuana is a super interesting example, because it went from being demonised to being SO accepted in the space of a generation. And now it is a part of the economic landscape.

(The above is about Fantasy worldbuilding specifically, but it does a good job of explaining /why/ it matters. When we replicate our status quo we replicate all the defaults around race, gender, class, etc etc. without thought and without intentionality.)

"Availability heuristics kick in, and we get another world of feudal serfs hunting deer and eating grains, of Western name constructions and Western social assumptions. (Husband and wife is not the universal historical norm for family structure, for instance.)"

www.sethdickinson.com/2013/08/30/w...

I know @sublevelb3.bsky.social has tons of interesting thoughts about Shinra being an interdependent set of companies drawing on the Japanese keiretsu model!

But yeah, I find it really helpful to take a step back from my own culture and ask like 'what makes sense within /this/ world?'

Health and safety laws are non-existent. 14 year olds join the army. Human trafficking is an accepted danger. There are no laws designed to protect people's health.

When we look at FF7, we see a world that has no strong governments and a hyper-capitalist 'company-town' type set-up. There's a sort of libertarian underpinning to the whole set-up, actually. People can do whatever they want, as long as it doesn't hurt Shinra's bottom line.

The reasons for this are cultural and historical. Drug policies generally are extremely varied (and incredibly illogical) wherever you go. Alcohol is one of the most addictive and socially corrosive drugs in existence -- more addictive than meth! -- but also embedded in many cultures.

Did you know that in the UK melatonin a prescription-only drug? Can you imagine my astonishment when I saw melatonin gummies aimed at children in the USA supermarket?

Conversely, codeine (an opioid) can be bought over the counter in the UK.

I had two comments on All or Nothing commenting on the easy availability of a knockout drug and I want to talk a little bit about the default centering of modern Western (mostly American) culture in fanfic.

I'm currently reading Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon, and it is a reminder that as an author you can do whatever the hell you want.

These expressions look so good, your art has so much life and movement

ooooo
Look at that view. I hope you are having an amazing time.

flowers in the wind

a white cat with a pink bow on its head looks angry Alt: Marie from the Aristocats rolls her eyes in disgust

God she was my FAVOURITE. I had this movie memorised as a kid 😂

I still make this expression on the regular

The Aristocats
The Little Mermaid
Pinnocho
Aladdin

this is a very compelling argument

okay but listen OG Reno fucking Rude and Rude fucking ReReno and oh no I'm having a nosebleed

a little girl is hugging a blue monster from monsters inc ALT: a little girl is hugging a blue monster from monsters inc

I'm sorry :( it's so hard right now in so many ways.

By the time I actually got to Gongaga on my playthrough I was deeply pissed off at all the minigames and sidequests, and then trying to navigate the jungle was like ARRRRGH, so I never fully appreciated her

For this Cissnei/Barret fic I've been rewatching the Gongaga scenes and honestly, I love her.

barret and tseng polygon figures holding hands, just as god intended

they're finally together <3

Even if he was never given a description, the fact he was chasing a second fugitive along with Zack, that Cloud has Zack's sword, & that the Turks have a lot of affection for Zack (to the point they were willing to disobey orders to save him) .... yeah, actually, I think all the aggro is put on.

It's a cool hc, and matches up with my concept of Reno as an expert dissembler! Especially given he was on a mission to track down Zack and Cloud like... three months before he runs into Cloud in the church?

I'm ngl, seeing shirtless Reno and Femme!Cloud fight activates the Cleno sleeper agent in my brain 😂

Hellbound Heart and the Hannibal books are both such good reads. I love Clive Barker so much *shakes head*